Amazon Kindle includes Sprint EVDO service free for wireless book downloads

eBook readers have been around for a while, but never really took off. Much the same can be said for the eBook itself; the form factor for a book just never caught on the way some expected it to. When it comes to books and magazines, it’s hard to beat good old-fashioned paper.

Like the Sony CONNECT eBook service, the Amazon Kindle device operates on a new service called the Kindle Store. Whereas the Sony CONNECT service requires an Internet connection for downloading eBooks, the Kindle uses EVDO connectivity. What’s more impressive than the ability of the Kindle to connect to download reading material via EVDO is that a lifetime of Sprint EVDO service is included with the purchase of the Kindle device.

Amazon promises that you can download more than 88,000 books over the same Sprint 3G EVDO service that cellular phones use. If you are in an area that isn’t served by Sprint EV-DO service the internal modem falls back to 1x RTT. This will be an area of concern for people in rural areas interested in purchasing the device since the much slower speeds will make downloads take longer.

The $399 Kindle device has 256MB of internal RAM, which is enough storage space for over 200 titles and weighs only 10.3 ounces. With wireless connectivity on, the Kindle will require a recharge every other day and Amazon claims that with wireless service off the Kindle can last for up to a week before needing to recharge.

For example, none of Kurt Vonnegut's books are available in either a normal sized paperback or a hardback so far as I can tell. Just this stupid giant paperback size.

On the other hand, I've never been able to read an e-book. It bothers my eyes reading on the computer screen for that long. I can't see spending $400 on something like this though. It looks like I may be renewing my library card soon.

$400 for a device that allows you to purchase 'select' books/periodicals at inflated prices that can only be played on the same $400 device. Since the device is likely made in China, when it dies, so do the books in the internal memory. And if it is on a memory card you will likely have to buy another one of these things to read it. This business model has fail written all over it.

Now the Netflix model might work great. A set monthly fee to have X number of books or periodical subscriptions at any one time. When you finish a book, "return it", and download another. Now that would find a market.

With Amazon backing the media library and the "anywhere" EVDO access I'd say it has a chance. As TomZ said not having PDF support is a big issue but it can be converted to HTML with Acrobat so it's not a deal breaker. The $9.99 price seems a little high if there is DRM so you can't "loan" it to someone else. People who travel a lot are going to love this.

Someone is going to get this right, the initial tries are good but still a little to limited and expensive, but when the right device hits the change could make the iPod look like a passing fad. A small, flexible device like these (with touch screen) could easily replace forms and printed documents in most offices, text books in schools and colleges, as well as for stuff like this device. It would be perfect for my work, all those bulky, beat up, ratty, illegible work documents replaced with one of these.

Regular newspaper readers will probably make up the bulk of the initial userbase, I think. Getting rid of old newspaper is such a hassle that, according to a survey done by Washington Post, majority of people do not want a subscription even if it were free. A typical broadsheet is so full of rubbish that a week's worth could weight like ten pounds. Hard to carry around too.

If they made college text books available for machines such as this or Sony's reader then I can actually not have to haul 2 giant books around in my backpack. I'm sure I'm not the only one who would like their books with them for whatever purpose and xeroxing will create such a waste.

the college bookstores (many backed by publishers) would never allow that, they make a killing off college students, such as myself, who buy the textbook at full price and try to sell it back for peanuts.

Its funny cause there are sites that scan and post full versions of college textbooks ;)

I was actually thinking of just buying the digital version of a text book for a somewhat cheaper price not a massive reduction. This would allow me to bring all my books with me but without the hassle.

So what are the proposed DRM measures for this system and the files? Will people be able to save them to the computer or will some be device only???Will be neat to see if this helps usher in a new generation of books never released on paper.

I think my big problem with these type devices is the DRM type stuff. If I buy a book and read it I can give it/sell it to someone else. If I buy an ebook can I give it/sell it to someone else? Doubtful.

Since it has an SD slot I would think that you could back up to a computer. But I would also bet that the book is locked to the devices hardware key.

What would make this device worth having is if you could access a library, such as Questia and Gutenberg. Furthermore, it lacks certain functionality that might make it worthwhile - at least nothing in the article suggested it was possible. The functionality that Questia has is really quite good, even if I find their selection is lacking (still far from as impressive as what my university has to offer) The ability to highlight and write notes are integral parts of reading for me. As others have said, the high price of each unit are a major detraction. They should offer more functionality and include a free library.

There seems to be a surge in ebook reader market lately. Sony released PRS-500 and updated it with PRS-505, several other companies have released their own devices too, all apparently using the same e-ink display:

I have mine speed reading for me all the time since you can even adjust how fast they read too. The examples shown were at a reading speed level of around 4 of 10 but they still sound great at 9, and even at 10 when ya get used to them. =)